Eric's Depression

There is a lot of talk about Dylan's suicidal desires with his homicidak thoughts peppered in but I thought it would be interesting to talk about Eric's depression more.

He faked a suicide when he was young, as a joke but there is sometimes a little bit of truth in every joke. And the diversion papers he marked off suicidal thoughts and then half marked off the homicidal thoughts part. And there is also the rumor that somebody put on this cross "you died a year ago no one noticed".

There's all the talk about Dylan becoming more distant. Is there anybody that talks about Eric?

You're right in that this is not talked about as much as Dylan's depression. I think this is because Eric channeled his feelings of inferiority and helplessness into his aggression, which is different from Dylan, who let it consume him silently.

Eric was just as depressed as Dylan, maybe even more than him. Unfortunately we won't have any info about Eric's mental state and everyday life as his family members never spoke out.

QuestionMark wrote:

You're right in that this is not talked about as much as Dylan's depression. I think this is because Eric channeled his feelings of inferiority and helplessness into his aggression, which is different from Dylan, who let it consume him silently.

I agree. Eric hid his hurt and pain behind his Reb persona. Very rarely did he break from it, even when writing or during the videos. Yet a few times the mask slipped and he let that pain and hurt show through for a few seconds. Like when he was talking about his old friends and appeared to start crying in the basement tapes, also once or twice in his journal he let his real feelings show.

I know some say that he was just posturing in his writing and the videos because he was acting for his intended viewers. I do think he did that a lot. This is another reason why I would love to see the basement tapes. I want to look at certain parts like the one of him crying and see if it was genuine or not. I honestly think Eric was mostly mean and aggressive in an effort to hide how much he was hurting and struggling.

Just plain old Eric was a short, under weight, weakling with a chest deformity. Who got picked on, and had no luck with girls. While Reb was ultra cool, went on Midnight Missions. Was the one who had the weapons stash, the one planning on demolishing the entire school. Reb was the one building bombs and practicing with sawed off shotguns.

I think this is why Eric insisted on being called REB.  When he was in REB mode he felt like he was in control, he felt powerful. It is somewhat similar to a split personality in my opinion.

ShadowedGoddess wrote:

QuestionMark wrote:

You're right in that this is not talked about as much as Dylan's depression. I think this is because Eric channeled his feelings of inferiority and helplessness into his aggression, which is different from Dylan, who let it consume him silently.

I agree. Eric hid his hurt and pain behind his Reb persona. Very rarely did he break from it, even when writing or during the videos. Yet a few times the mask slipped and he let that pain and hurt show through for a few seconds. Like when he was talking about his old friends and appeared to start crying in the basement tapes, also once or twice in his journal he let his real feelings show.

I know some say that he was just posturing in his writing and the videos because he was acting for his intended viewers. I do think he did that a lot. This is another reason why I would love to see the basement tapes. I want to look at certain parts like the one of him crying and see if it was genuine or not. I honestly think Eric was mostly mean and aggressive in an effort to hide how much he was hurting and struggling.

Just plain old Eric was a short, under weight, weakling with a chest deformity. Who got picked on, and had no luck with girls. While Reb was ultra cool, went on Midnight Missions. Was the one who had the weapons stash, the one planning on demolishing the entire school. Reb was the one building bombs and practicing with sawed off shotguns.

I think this is why Eric insisted on being called REB.  When he was in REB mode he felt like he was in control, he felt powerful. It is somewhat similar to a split personality in my opinion.

His last journal entry was really telling too. It was so melancholy.

Not knowing how Eric had changed like we know with Dylan makes it easier for people just to label him as a really angry psychopath. Dylan seemed like the nastier one in the Basement Tapes too which is probably another reason Sue didn't want them released.

I feel like Erics depression is rooted in trust issues and contradicting feelings.

He has to be something he does not want to be in order to fit into a society that he does not approve of.
He wants to be a part of the society and socially accepted yet he does not.

With lack of internal psychological consistency you get a really weak image of who you are which probably leads to you fabricating the kind of person you should be in order to reach your ultimate goal.

I feel like all teenagers go through this to some extent. It feels very natural. What is unnatural about it is Erics logical thinking about the concepts of society and all that taking the upper hand rather than the emotional need for acceptance.

I feel it is because his emotional need for acceptance had never seemed to stop since he was moving around all the time and it never got him anything to keep, and therefore he wanted to abandon it all together.

munchkinphone wrote:

I feel like Erics depression is rooted in trust issues and contradicting feelings.

He has to be something he does not want to be in order to fit into a society that he does not approve of.
He wants to be a part of the society and socially accepted yet he does not.

With lack of internal psychological consistency you get a really weak image of who you are which probably leads to you fabricating the kind of person you should be in order to reach your ultimate goal.

I feel like all teenagers go through this to some extent. It feels very natural. What is unnatural about it is Erics logical thinking about the concepts of society and all that taking the upper hand rather than the emotional need for acceptance.

I feel it is because his emotional need for acceptance had never seemed to stop since he was moving around all the time and it never got him anything to keep, and therefore he wanted to abandon it all together.  

I agree that all teenagers go through something similar to Eric, just not on that level. This is probably why it was difficult for people around him to see how much he was really falling apart. Wayne and Kathy probably had a better idea, but friends and teachers likely thought he was just an angsty teen with some anger issues.

It really makes it hard to figure out what's teenage angst and what's a cry for help.